What’s New in Accounting Outsourcing?

For today’s businesses, accounting outsourcing is the new trend. More companies are using it, and more are using it for an increasing amount of services. The best reason for this is because no matter how big or small your firm, administrative duties take staff time that could be better used elsewhere. Accounting outsourcing is here to stay.

Efficiency

The fact is that accounting and administration is a very important part of all businesses, despite those services not being the main bread and butter of the business. Accounting outsourcing gives your company the ability to get rid of those parts of your business, without failing to do them. Outsourcing is more efficient, and the drive for efficiency is a key strategic need of all of today’s businesses.

What services can be outsourced?

In the past, services commonly outsourced in the accounting department were payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable. However, all areas involved in accounting can be done via accounting outsourcing, including financial statement preparation, internal auditing, and account reconciliations. Even the CFO’s job can be outsourced. Some companies choose to outsource everything, and others just do it partially.

Why outsourcing?

Efficiency was already mentioned. The main reason it is more efficient is because it frees up staff time to do other things, like concentrate on making the business more competitive and more innovative. Another reason is that accounting outsourcing saves on training and recruiting costs, and it saves the cost of maintaining an accounting department.

Training and retraining costs are high because of the constant flux in accounting regulations. An outsourced firm has the time to be up on the latest changes and use the latest tools.

Greater control

One concern that companies have with accounting outsourcing is that they believe that all the financial aspects of the business will be in the hands of someone else. They worry about losing control. In fact, it has been found that companies take the accounting more seriously, and become more involved in it, when it is outsourced. This is because they tend to pay more attention when they are working with someone else, but mostly because they have someone who will advise them and help them with what is, for most of us, a necessary chore. Another reason is that the information is clearer, showing measurable, useful outcomes when professionals take charge. It becomes easier to see what is needed to improve operations for the good of the company.

No matter what kind of company you are, unless you are an accounting company, accounting is not your prime concern. You want to get on with running the business better than it was before, and you no longer have to choose. A small business owner used to have to do the work by him or herself, taking valuable time. A large business needed a separate, staffed department. Today, you can run a better business by getting someone else to do it. Outsourcing accounting is becoming more and more a thing of the future.